Baltimore reliever Anthony Nunez pitched himself into trouble in the eighth, and ABS couldn’t get him out of it.
The robot ump confirmed two near-misses after challenges by catcher Adley Rutschman, the second on a 3-1 pitch that was actually not as much a near-miss as Rutschman hoped, walking Yohendrick Pinango with the bases loaded with the go-ahead run in a 2-1 Toronto win on Thursday at Camden Yards.
George Springer, who scored on the base on balls, led off the eighth off Nunez (2-2, 5.06 ERA) with a double to left-center that just missed leaving the yard.
A sac bunt got him to third, ahead of an intentional walk to Vladimir Guerrero Jr., and a five-pitch walk to Daulton Varsho.
Gotta wonder here about the thinking of first-year O’s manager Craig Albernaz, giving Guerrero the free pass with Nunez having some issues with the strike zone on the season – eight walks in 25.2 innings coming into the game last night.
Chris Bassitt had a solid start for Baltimore (26-31, 10 GB, AL East): six innings, one run, four hits, two Ks, one walk.
Game 2: Friday, 7:05 p.m. ET (MASN)
Pitching probables
- TOR: TBA
- BAL: Trevor Rogers (2-6, 6.96 ERA, 1.62 WHIP)
Hitters to watch: Toronto
- 2B Ernie Clement: 5 HRs, 20 RBIs, .293 BA/.763 OPS
- 1B Vladimir Guerrero Jr.: 3 HRs, 22 RBIs, .289 BA/.761 OPS
- 3B Kazuma Okamoto: 11 HRs, 29 RBIs, .215 BA/.711 OPS
Hitters to watch: Baltimore
- C Adley Rutschman: 7 HRs, 26 RBIs, .267 BA/.831 OPS
- C Samuel Basallo: 8 HRs, 22 RBIs, .265 BA/.805 OPS
- 1B Pete Alonso: 10 HRs, 33 RBIs, .231 BA/.740 OPS
- SS Gunnar Henderson: 13 HRs, 29 RBIs, .218 BA/.702 OPS
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Chris Graham
